Hunting and Training Techniques

Question 1

True or False:

A haggard hawk was once an eyas.

Answer 1

True.

Question 2

True or False:

A passage bird was once an eyass.

Answer 2

True.

Question 3

True or False:

An eyass hawk was once a haggard.

Answer 3

False.

Question 4

When a falconer is attempting to call their bird, a visitor should . . .
(2 Points)

Answer 4

1. stay back and be still

2. not get between the falconer and the bird

Question 5

Manning your newly-caught Red-tailed Hawk is best accomplished . . .

Answer 5

using food to encourage a response

Question 6

The benefits of hunting your bird frequently include . . .

3 Points

Answer 6

1. providing a good diet of wild caught game
2. providing excellent exercise for your bird
3. strengthening the bond between you and your bird

Question 7

Once your freshly caught Red-tailed Hawk tires of bating off the fist and sits quietly, your next goal should be to . . .

Answer 7

get it to feed off the fist

Question 8

Your new Red-tailed Hawk appears too tame after just one day out of the trap. You should . . .

Answer 8

call your sponsor and follow their instructions

Question 9

Use of a lure may be desired when . . .

3 Points

Answer 9

1. a bird is being trained
2. when an immediate recall of your bird is necessary
3. when recalling your bird from a great distance

Question 10

Your Red-tailed Hawk is well manned and flying to the fist on a creance. When do you feel comfortable flying it free?

Answer 10

When it quickly comes 50 yards to the fist

Question 11

You know an American Kestrel tends to carry. To help prevent this you should . . .

Answer 11

use a weighted lure line

Question 12

Training a peregrine falcon to take a pitch may be accomplished by . . .
(2 Points)

Answer 12

1. training with homing pigeons

2. training with a kite

Question 13

Flying your hawk in April may be risky because . . .

Answer 13

migratory urges may resurface

Question 14

The first time you fly you Red-tailed Hawk free he refuses to come down from a tree. You are forced to leave him out for the night. Your next step should be to . . .
(2 Points)

Answer 14

1. arrive before dawn the next morning and try to recover him
2. call your sponsor and ask for advice

Question 15

Your lost passage Red-tailed Hawk is likely to . .

Answer 15

revert back to the wild in short order

Question 16

Which of the following statements is true regarding lure-flying?

Answer 16

it is a useful tool for conditioning any falcon

Question 17

The best description of an operant conditioning technique is . . .

Answer 17

jump ups to the fist with a varying reward

Question 18

Your objective when training your hawk is . . .

Answer 18

to make it as tame as possible

Question 19

After hunting your Red-tailed Hawk for a season you decide to keep her through the molt. Your goal should be . . .

Answer 19

add about twenty percent to her flying weight

Question 20

When training your first Red-tailed Hawk, your objective with hooding should be . . .

Answer 20

be patient, calm, relaxed and give it a good try

Question 21

Acceptable quarry for a new hawk may include…

3 Points

Answer 21

1. squirrel
2. rabbit
3. quail

Question 22

When looking for a duck flight for your new bird you would ideally . . .

Answer 22

fly a single or small group of ducks

Question 23

Your Red-tailed Hawk will have more success hunting if…

2 Points

Answer 23

1. it is hunting from trees or poles

2. you carry it on an elevated T perch

Question 24

The raptor most likely to capture prey in a ringing flight style is . . .

Answer 24

Merlin

Question 25

Use of a live-lure is necessary . .

Answer 25

only in an emergency

Question 26

Making in to your Red-tailed Hawk on her first kill should be . .

Answer 26

done deliberately and cautiously

Question 27

The best way to catch a starling with your American Kestrel is. . .

Answer 27

from close range while they are bathing

Question 28

Jack rabbits make for difficult quarry because . .

Answer 28

they are fast and good at dodging

Question 29

Cooper’s hawks are most commonly hunted . . .

Answer 29

from the fist

Question 30

Hunting upland game with a goshawk is aided by . . .

2 Points

Answer 30

1. a good pointing dog

2. a good flushing dog

Question 31

Entering your new bird is best described as . . .

Answer 31

giving your bird an easy chance to chase a new quarry

Question 32

After a falcon strikes its quarry it is likely to . . .

Answer 32

throw-up

Question 33

A pheasant is most likely taken by a goshawk . . .

Answer 33

on a reflush

Question 34

When walking with a falconer carrying an unhooded hawk, a person should always walk…

Answer 34

to the right of a right-handed falconer.

*Hawks are quick to sense a stranger and may become uneasy with unfamiliar people behind them. The person accompanying the falconer should therefore always walk on the side opposite the hand on which the hawk is perched. Right-handed falconers traditionally carry their birds on their left hand, so the person should walk on the right. After a few trips falconry birds usually become accustomed to the presence of other people in the field.

Question 35

True or false: Some falconers prefer to man wild raptors outdoors to avoid overheating.

Answer 35

True

*It is always easier to man a freshly captured hawk inside before exposing it to the noise and distractions of the outside world. The initial manning of raptors should generally take place outside or in an outbuilding where it is cool, or even cold, lest they overheat.
The birds may expend a lot of energy bating and may be nervous. If at anytime during the handling, the bird shows an uncontrollable jerking or twitching of its shoulder or wings, it should be immediately placed in a cool dark room and left strictly alone to cool off and recover its composure. Accipiters are particularly prone to apoplectic fits.

Question 36

True or false: A hungry raptor can be trained more quickly than one that is not hungry.

Answer 36

True

*When hungry, a hawk will respond significantly faster than when it is well-fed. Its attention must be focused through the medium of daily feeding. It is during this period that the falconer will make most of his or her progress. Never starve your bird, but get it on the wing quickly so that it can attain its full potential. Use a scale daily and keep a log to monitor patterns.

Question 37

True or false: Falconers prefer their birds to be “sharp-set” before they enter the field to hunt.

Answer 37

True

*“Sharp-set” means hungry, keen, and sharp. It indicates an alert state, a readiness to kill.

Question 38

Raptors are most effectively trained…

Answer 38

by a system of rewards (providing food for good process).

*Hawks and falcons are not social animals, so the system of reward and punishment will not work. They react favorably only to a system based entirely on rewards. With force, punishment, or the threat of force, the non-social animal can react in only two ways; they can try to escape or fight back.

Question 39

True or false: Hawks should not be made too tame, but should be encouraged to retain their wild nature.

Answer 39

False

*Tameness is a point of refinement in the art of falconry, and should be encouraged at all times. The more well-manned a hawk becomes and the more confidence and trust she has in the trainer, the better will be her attitude, and ultimately her success at later game flights.

Question 40

True or false: Due to their greater hunting experience, passagers are more proficient than haggards.

Answer 40

False

*A passage bird, being an immature first year bird, has less hunting experience than does a haggard which is an wild adult raptor. Haggards are generally more proficient than passage birds but are also generally less trainable. It is illegal and unethical to remove adult raptors from the wild for falconry purposes.

Question 41

True or false: A five year-old bird can never be accurately described as an eyas.

Answer 41

False.

*An eyas is a trained raptor of any age or species that was originally obtained as a nestling. The word is also applied to describe the young of raptors while they are still in the nest

Question 42

Hacking is a process whereby…

Answer 42

young raptors are allowed full flight freedom till they begin to kill for themselves.

*Wild “hacking” gives eyases exercise and training that mimics the experience in flying that they would get in the wild.

Question 43

The chief advantage of “tame-hack” is…

3 Points

Answer 43

1. flight experience at critical development stages
2. provides critical hunting experience
3. sibling play experience

*“Tame hack” gives early free experience to fledgling falcons in close association with their trainer. The falconer allows fledgling falcons to fly free for a few hours each day from a portable perch in a “hack field” The birds fly with telemetry and are recovered
each night. During the process, the falconer begins to serve quarry to the birds as they frolic and exercise in the manner of wild parents raising their young. In addition to exercise and the advantages listed above, the tame hack experiences, which American
falconers developed during the 1970s, gives young birds some of the learning experiences that would occur at their stage of development if they were in the wild.
Tame hack has the advantage over wild hack that the falconer is always close by to protect their birds from eagles, owls, wild raptors, cars, hunters, and power lines.

Question 44

True or false: It is advisable to take an eyas Red-tailed Hawk for falconry purposes.

Answer 44

False

*Imprinting is transference of identity where the bird begins to think that it is a person or that people are hawks, and specifically the person handling it may be viewed as a parent. These birds develop an aggression and a lack of respect that keeps wild-caught birds from attacking human beings. Carried to its extreme in an intermewed bird, this aggression is married to the normal territorial defense reactions adult birds assume.
Imprinted Red-tailed Hawks in particular have been known to attack and seriously injure their keepers, and more often, members of the hunting party or strangers who happen to be in the field. Besides rendering the bird extremely dangerous, it also makes it impossible to hack the bird back into the wild. Imprinting of buteos is to be avoided at all costs.

Question 45

True or false: A good rule for avoiding “screaming” is to “take the hawk to food, not the food to the hawk.”

Answer 45

True

*With an eyas, the bird should be handled every day but never let it associate you with food. Remove the bird from its box before placing the lure with its meat attached.

Return the eyas to its box and leave before it finds the lure. Never let the bird see you with food or the lure in your hand until at least after it is hard penned for a week or two.

Even if you are diligent about this, the eyas may still imprint to you, but may not develop into a consistent screamer. If you are raising a single eyas, put an 8”x10” mirror in the nest box with it to keep it company, and hopefully the eyeas will imprint on its own image.

Question 46

One method of breaking a bird of the bad habit of snatching food from the fist and bating with it is to…

Answer 46

feed the bird tidbits from the fist.

*This bad habit reflects poor early training. To remedy it, the falconer should permit their bird to eat only off the fist. Feed tidbits from the fist and never allow the hawk to have large portions. If the bird is offered only very small portions, she will eventually become discouraged from grabbing them and flying off. The use of tiring is also therapeutic.

Question 47

During early training, “carrying” can be discouraged by…

Answer 47

holding or securing the lure.

*Young hawks will often grab the lure and try to fly off with it. The falconer can avert this vice (before it happens) by firmly holding the lure or fastening the lure cord to a stationary object. Carrying should be discouraged.

Question 48

True or false. It is desirable that your falcon “binds” after striking quarry.

Answer 48

True.

*To bind is to seize the quarry with the feet and hold it either in the air or on the ground.

Question 49

“throw up”

Answer 49

In the falconer’s vernacular, “throw up” means to rise steeply on outstretched wings particularly after a stoop.

Question 50

“Yarak”

Answer 50

“Yarak” is an East Indian word that describes a savage state unique to certain birds of prey, which has no synonym in the English language.

*It describes an extreme readiness to kill. A bird in yarak adopts a certain unique posture that makes it appear especially dangerous. Some birds in yarak will attack anything, including cattle, dogs, and their trainers, but especially game. Yarak is partially, but not entirely linked to hunger. Birds that are put on a regular feeding schedule will, after a time, to come into yarak well before feeding time. Some birds go into yarak after missing a flight at quarry. Falcons and owls almost never go into yarak.

Question 51

The development of hunting skills in all proficient hunting hawks is based upon…

Answer 51

the development and encouragement of their inherent instinct for hunting.

*The development in birds of prey (and all predators) of the desire and will to hunt and kill certain species in excess of their own needs is linked to the care of their young. In succoring their nestlings, parents kill for reasons independent of their own hunger. The
best falconry birds will hunt their own normal prey when they are high above their flying weight and not in a state of yarak.

Question 52

A good reason to stop flying your bird before the start of spring is…
(3 Points)

Answer 52

1. frequency of soaring weather
2. resurgence of latent migration urges
3. influx of many migrating passerine birds

*Spring is a dangerous season to fly any bird. Leaves reappear on the trees. The molt begins in April (but will be delayed if the falconer keeps their bird sharp-set) and hormonal changes urge the bird to migrate or seek a mate and the whole atmosphere turns over. The warmer lower air bursts upward expanding and accelerating as it goes and carries your bird with it. A bird caught in this updraft will seldom return. An
additional hazard associated with spring is the temptation to chase recently arriving passerine birds, which were absent all winter.

Question 53

The best reason not to fly your birds during the molt is because…
(3 Points)

Answer 53

1. a hawk may break a blood feather
2. it is too hard to see quarry when the leaves are on the trees
3. feather growth is energy-demanding and the birds must be fed more

Question 54

“Entering”

Answer 54

“Entering” a falconry bird on a particular prey species is the practice of introducing it to a quarry it has not interacted with before.

*Usually the falconer attempts to create a situation that maximizes the bird’s opportunity for success and, if the bird is successful in taking the game, allows the bird to feed up on it. The hope is to create a good association in the hawk’s mind and establish a “search image” of the intended quarry.

Question 55

True or false: The scream of an eyas hawk frightens game from the field and forest.

Answer 55

False

*There is no evidence that quarry hunted by hawks of any kind associate the sounds made by the hawk with the hawk itself. To a duck or pheasant or rabbit, the cries of a Goshawk, Harris’s Hawk or Red-tailed Hawk appear to be no more disturbing than the sound of a passing aircraft. The sound, however, is extremely irritating to humans.

Question 56

True or false: A cock pheasant is easier for most birds to catch on the fly than a hen pheasant but is more troublesome in a rough-and-tumble on the ground.

Answer 56

True

*The cock pheasant is slower than the smaller hen and probably easier for the raptor to follow. However, on the ground it is tougher and will often kick the raptor off and offer to do battle with its spurs in the manner of a fighting cock.

Question 57

True or false: A pheasant takes cover after being chased by your hawk for several hundred yards. The hawk is in a perch above the cover. If you flush the pheasant again, the hawk is likely to take it in the air.

Answer 57

True

*Adult pheasants are seldom taken on their first rise and usually pull away from a Goshawk, Harris’s Hawk or Red-tailed Hawk. A Harris’s Hawk or Goshawk will usually begin gaining on the pheasant if they persist. If the pheasant takes cover again, make every effort to force the pheasant into the air. A pheasant can be flown once and win - twice and it loses almost every time. A Harris’s Hawk will learn this lesson very quickly.

Question 58

A falcon at high altitude is more likely to take…

Answer 58

a female mallard that breaks from the flock in a steep climb over land.

*There are no hard and fast rules about which individual game species a raptor will take, however, falcons tend to attack individuals that break from the flock. (b) is incorrect because falcons are normally reluctant to take waterfowl over large bodies of water. (c) is wrong because aggressive behavior by quarry toward the falcon will often discourage the predator. (d) is wrong because it is more difficult than it is commonly thought for a falcon to take a pigeon. It is even more difficult when an individual pigeon is flying in a flock. There are a few wild hawks that under normal circumstances can take a fullflighted pigeon. A good homer will not out-fly, but can out-dodge the best falcon. Pigeons and doves, as well as shore birds will often deliberately take to the air ahead of a low-level attack by a falcon and contest the mastery of the air with the raptor.

Question 59

True or false: A pursued duck is as loathe to fly into trees or brush as a falcon.

Answer 59

True

*Trees and cover do not have as much effect on waterfowl flights. As a rule, ducks never attempt to enter cover or hide unless hit or forced out of the air by a near miss. Once down and trying to hide, ducks are good at it and are very difficult to find.